1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The goals of this study were […] to estimate the recidivism rate of a relatively large sample of adolescents who have sexually offended and to identify the predictors of sexual, violent, and overall recidivism among these adolescents.» (p. 436)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Our sample was composed of 351 adolescents who have sexually offended, and who had been assessed at the Centre de psychiatrie légale de Montréal between 1992 and 2002.» (p. 436)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The results of our study confirm that a minority of adolescents who have sexually offended persist in sexual criminal activity. These results contradict the stereotypical views that sexual offenders cannot be treated and that adolescent sexual offenders are future adult sexual offenders. In fact, our results support the fact that the transition from adolescent to adult sexual aggression is the exception rather than the rule, confirming the results of Nisbel et al. (2004). […] In addition, results of our study suggest that a high proportion of adolescent recidivists engage in nonsexual criminality beyond adolescence. A majority of these adolescents present the same risk factors as nonsexual offenders, and only a small proportion—sexual recidivists—present distinctive risk factors and different needs in terms of legal and therapeutic management. […] Early intervention among young people exhibiting certain risk factors identified in this study and documented in the literature (e.g., sexual victimization at a young age, paternal absence, educational and relational difficulties, impulsivity, and delinquency) may prove useful in favoring desistence of offending in adolescents who have committed their first sexual abuse.» (p. 447-448)